Posted Jun 23, 2011

Now that we have over 100,000 member sign-ups and we have over 50,000 unlocked dates, it’s time for me to announce a few exciting changes to WhatsYourPrice.com.

Introducing Zorah Wright

Up until now, I have been the only one writing blogs. As much as I am thrilled to do so, I am after all a man and I can’t provide the female point of view on many of the topics and issues our users face or will likely face. So, starting today, we’ll finally have a female voice on the blog. The first major announcement, is Zorah has agreed to be our new WhatsYourPrice.com in-house relationship expert and Blog-master.

Zorah is a speaker, author, and business coach living in Northern California. Zorah holds an MBA, and has worked in finance, business services, communications and sales for most of her career. With a chest full of toys, costumes and potions, she is a dating and relationship expert. Of course Zorah is also a member of WhatsYourPrice.com. According to Zorah, she’s never had a bad date (one of her dates once did but he was trying really hard). She has traveled all over the world and dated in many cultures. Her understanding of communications, relationship building through customs, cultures and classes has helped her in her professional business success. Here is a quote, direct from her:

“Every woman wants a degree of romance when it comes to dating. Even in the context of a paid dating site, such as What’sYourPrice.com, the concept of romance aligns with the concept of value. Value places the woman at the heart of the date, as the heroine in her personal story and as the object of desire for her suitor. WhatsYourPrice.com, immediately places an intrinsic value on the opportunity to go on a date with an attractive person, celebrating their importance based on appearance and what they have written in their profiles.”

I am sure Zorah will bring fun, spontaneity as well as new a feminine twist to WhatsYourPrice.com. Zorah will show users how to get the most from the site, have fun dating, role playing and teach them to keep their agreements; the basis for all great relationships!

New Features on WhatsYourPrice.com

The second major announcement is the new features we introduced today on WhatsYourPrice.com. As some of you may have noticed, credits no longer expire (hooray), users now have the option to upload private photos, read or submit real testimonials, and users can now provide a reason when rejecting a date offer.

Credits That Never Expire

You’ve asked for this, and we have listened. So starting today, generous member credits no longer expire.

Private Photos

We know how a person looks is important when deciding whether to make or accept a first date offer! But some of you have told us you want to have better control over your privacy, and only show your photos to people you actually want to go out with. With the new private photos feature, the privacy conscious person can now do both – be private while showing your real self to the persons you want to date. Someone can only view your private photos after you have sent them a wink, made them an offer, or responded to their offer. Of course, having a public photo will still get you more offers, so we strongly suggest that you upload a good looking public photo of yourself!

Reasons for Rejection

Rejection can be hard, and some people may not get the message. So as some of you have requested, we now give you the ability to specify why you’re rejecting an offer: (1) You’re just not my type, (2) You’re too far away, (3) You don’t have enough information or photos in your profile for me to make a decision, and (4) We don’t have the same first date expectations. We hope this helps!

Real User Testimonials

We’ve added a feature for real members to submit and publish their experience using WhatsYourPrice.com. So now, you can read how others like you are doing on the website. For example, here’s a real testimonial from Holly — “Love this site. Had a date last night. Went great had a great time. He told me I looked so much younger and better then my picture. (knew that already lol) He surprised me with 3x’s the amount that we agreed upon because we had such a good time and I was “Normal” lmao!!”

Over the course of the next few weeks, we will continue to introduce new features, such as expiring old offers or accepted dates, and a whole lot more. As always, I ask you to freely comment and give us your feedback.

56 Responses to “Introducing New Features & Zorah”

So private photos? Personally I see this as a bad idea. I can just see it now. Woman getting offers and the generous member sending them pictures of his “generous member”. I say do away with this feature all together.

Reasons for rejection option:
For this one I think we left out the number 5. “Your price is too high” and 6. ” You’re offer is too low”.
2. “You’re too far away”& 4. “We don’t have the same first date expectations” PERFECT! These two are needed.
1. “You’re just not my type: Well this is flat out rejection so I don’t see this being easy for anyone to hear. I also feel this option will be used in many cases when some are uncomfortable with stating #5 or #6. ( yes I know #5 or #6 are not available but they should be)
3. The profile and pics etc . Well again many profiles don’t have pics for whatever reason. Some feel opposed to publicly paying for a date, others feel that people may get the wrong idea and prefer to hide their pics. Some of the members are married which is another reason why pictures are not added or hidden.

When it comes to the photos someone can easily just crop their face out of a picture and show chin down to give others an idea of body type etc.

One thing I liked about this site in particular was that the whole private photos option wasn’t available.

As an alternative :You can add a feature called “authentic attractive member”( holding up a paper with “WYP 2011″) Showing that their pictures are valid and up to date. or “authentic generous member” same verification used on seeking arrangement+ verification photo.

If having private photos is important then I only suggest to not allow nude photos. Also do not allow private photos to be sent off of winks or during the offer process but only when the offer has been accepted by both parties.

Suzy I like your ideas on expanding the reasons for rejection. This is the first I’m hearing of it so I haven’t checked it out yet but rejection can be difficult.

“We keep going back, stronger, not weaker, because we will not allow rejection to beat us down. It will only strengthen our resolve. To be successful there is no other way.”

I like the private profile feature, I don’t think I understand what you are saying you don’t like about it. You are free to not use it. I use it on Seeking Arrangement and it works for me. I let people know it’s only for people who know me, not just any random requests. It fills a void when I’m sitting on the fence about a person who seems to be genuine. I refuse to send pics through email because I am not allowing anyone to use my photos and they are not protected by the site anymore.

As for holding a pic up with a card and date, I can see why that would be a good idea but I would never subject myself to that online. Ever. I only allow professional pix and ones that shadow my face to go public in online dating for privacy reasons. I was/am a professional model and now a business owner. I have to be able to deny doing this sort of thing if need be as I’m sure many people are.

A lot of people do not want to have to ask friends to take photos for them. Also, we’re supposed to be “attractive”, not holding a sign up like a mug shot under my kitchen’s fluorescent lighting. The guy is welcome to say upon meeting me that I do not resemble my photo but that has never happened before. I screen pretty well for gentlemen, it is me in the photo so I’d be surprised if it ever was a problem.

Blue you’re are right. Holding up a sign seems a bit tacky. I mean why not put tags on our ears for crying out loud. lol

Offer options should never show the private photos so I’m glad to see that this isn’t available. Personally wouldn’t want someone to wink at me and just get the opportunity to see my pics when they have nothing in common with our first date expectations or in all honestly don’t even have a basic or private photos up of themselves.

I’ve decided to remove my main pictures and just have a private photo area. I suppose what’s the point in being forth coming on a site like this. There’s even a guy on here that has his main profile picture cut out of a movie. lol It’s hilarious!

Here’s out rationale for the private photos. When you wink at someone, your private photos become visible to that person. When you respond to an offer, your private photo also becomes visible. In that sense, the photo is only “private” until you have decided you may want to meet that person. At the end of the day, it provides an added layer of privacy for those who are concerned.

Okay, so let me get this straight, if I wink at someone or respond my private photos automatically become available? Why is that? I find that I would prefer the option of only showing someone when I feel comfortable. That’s why they are private. Given that I haven’t established anything about this person’s character when I wink, I would like to keep my identity from everyone except when I feel comfortable and it is completely necessary.

Blue, if you wink at someone, it means you’re interested in receiving an offer from them — so private photos is displayed. If you respond to an offer with a counter offer, then your private photos is shown, because you’re potentially interested in going out with him or her.

If you don’t want to go out with that person, then reject their offer, and your private photos will never be shown.

The purpose of private photo is to show it only to the people you are interested in discussing a date with. But not allowing the rest of the world to see it.

Thanks Brandon
Yes it means I am interested but Just because I’m interested does not mean I trust them or want to reveal my identity. It’s nice to be able to reserve that option for special people I am particularly comfortable with and not have to withhold a private pic because I give up my control over it.

But I like having the option on SA so I never have to email one without being protected by the site.

Blue, I share your sentiments, so I only have one photo, it’s private, and it’s blurred. Yes, I realize it may limit who accepts a date with me, but just because I’m interested doesn’t mean I want to show them who I am before we’ve even exchanged words.

Suzy … Yes, of course. I completely share your view and I am going to make sure we keep this website clean — i.e. PG13 pictures are fine, but no nudity allowed. Let’s keep it clean and respectable as you have suggested!

I just wanted to give some input. I’m a 29yo Male and I just set up my profile and have been exploring your site. I must say WELL DONE.. Very unique.

Now for the only complaint. The credit prices are a little steep. I was retired from the Army at 26 from injuries received in Iraq.

I know this site is what it is, a lot of beautiful woman looking for a rich man to swoop them up and give them a piece of the good life. I understand, but some of us are average men looking to meet and show a beautiful woman that money really isn’t everything.

Giving the fact we are already obligated to make cash offers just for a possibility, could you find it in yourself to put a bracket in the credit prices that would allow a little bit more exploring of the idea before making a fairly large commitment without really seeing if there is any women on here that aren’t looking for a whale?

I know your in this to make money and I truly believe you have something still evolving here. The thing about the internet is you never know exactly what you have but I’ve got a great feeling that this will catch like wildfire very soon and you will have more money than you could possibility spend..

Just my little input, other than that I’m very impressed at your angle that you cornered on the internet dating.. BRAVO

My ex is in Iraq I can understand your sentiments completely but I am not here to be shown money isn’t everything. I have another profile on another site meant for that.

Just saying…there is a time and place for everything and coming here to redirect people from what they set out to do is wrong on many levels. If you want to show women money isn’t everything you are free to do that on the millions of other dating sites. Why come here to waste our time?

The women on here aren’t interested in average men. We are not average or else we’d be on some free site like craigslist or plenty of fish, or even match or eharmony. Brandon, please keep the credit prices steep.

Thank you Blue. I do think testimonials as approved by Brandon will encourage people to follow through and be more authentic in their interactions with other members. Dating is a dance but we all know some dancers are better than others! Let’s have some fun.

The coding for the ‘reasons for rejection’ needs to be fixed, it isn’t displaying correctly/usefully for me (in firefox’s latest browser)
Two of the options aren’t available to be clicked, plus it overlays on a transparent background.

You may want to clear your cache of your browser, and try again. It is likely your browser has cached the old version of the website CSS (Formatting File) which is why you are experiencing this problem. It will go away by itself in a few days or weeks when your browser refreshes automatically, or you can just delete your cache now.

I don’t know if anyone else is having this problem but I get offers, I have accepted the offer then the person disappears. Can this be addressed some how, maybe a bullet point on not wasting someone’s time if your not serious, and if other people are experiencing the same thing, then maybe consequences if people are going around and making fake offers, such as supension or deletion of account.

Lore, Can you keep track of whom you accepted the offer from that disappears so we can track down the problem? The only reason a profile can disappear without warning is if our system determines the user to be a fraud (i.e., Nigeria scam, someone who used a stolen credit card, etc.). Under those circumstances, certain profiles will be deleted and disappear.

This brings up the issue once again of automatically showing private photos. I think some back and forth communication needs to take place before exposing people to flakes and time wasters who just want to take a look at your private pix.

I agree with the reasons for rejection option. Several times ive rejected someone because they live in Europe, but if they lived here in the states i would have been jumping to date them, so letting them know that i would if i could but your just too far away is a great option. It must be terrible to get REJECT in your e-mail and not know the reason why.

My profile clearly states that a $100 is the min for a first date .. so why am I now getting guys offering $10 and countering a dollar at a time?$63,$75,$86,$193.. not looking to accept pennies or make change on the date … why are they allowed to barter at doller increments? ..I prefer to round up not round down …

I’m sorry, LOL, that is too funny! You know the magic number is “7″ right? Now what could ’2″ be?

I agree with you adding serious inquiries only… the more specific you are, the more likely to get what you are looking for. People thrive in structure. Just leave some room for creativity because in the end, fun is extremely important!

I think that they think that they are being funny, or that their profile is sooo charming that once you take a look at it you will be blown away and offer to pay Them.
My greatest issue is: a guy making the offer for the first date, my accepting, and then his wanting to “get to know me” over countless hours of e-mails. I mean, I don’t mind sending one or two so he knows who he is dealing with, but I am a busy woman, not a free online therapist! Any suggestions?

Is there any way with the new additions to signal out the phony/loser guys who refuse to communicate after you’ve accepted an offer……they don’t even respond to your response e-mail to them??? I’m lost…Why ask for date, have it accepted then disappear…this has happened to me on every offer and acceptance.

I would at least like to rescind the offer, but there’s no function key to allow that…also they need to be tagged so other women don’t waste their time corresponding with them.

Lore, the issue is the other 12 who never responded even though they accepted your offer are likely non-paying members. Pay attention to the Generous member profile. The ones that say “PREMIUM MEMBERS” are the ones who have paid or have the credits to communicate with you. Other members who do not have this mark on their profile are free members who have not yet made up their minds whether they are ready to be serious about dating. Hope this helps you weed out the serious vs. just looking guys. Also, read out most recent Blog post about “Time Vampires”. Thanks!

Brandon, so when I get offers from non members I shouldn’t respond? That doesn’t seem right and I just went back and looked at the offers and there were some from premium members that didn’t follow thru. I don’t mean to make it sound like I’m complaining, but doesn’t 17 offers with only 5 that followed thru sound like a lot to you? I’m just wondering, if there is a way to minimize and improve the stats.

I think the offer/counter-offer part should be adjusted. I realized an offer may have been too low and the woman has given no response. So I decided to double the offer, for whatever reason. But it doesn’t allow canceling the offer and then doing it again.

Maybe a minimum counter-offer must be employed to stop guys from offering $1 increments. Or maybe there is a setting the woman can be in control of.

It has happened the other way too. I gave an offer I thought maybe was too low after pressing the button, but the woman accepted. So I don’t agree with women being offended. If they’re really offended, they should just increase the counter-offer to an unreachable amount, or block the person, although a block might be a mistake because the guy may be seriously thinking about a large sum.

I think the best response for some of these women is to not take it personally and just block if they’re really offended.

I lost a lot of credits because the attractive members deleted their profiles after accepting the date. This happened in 4 cases. (Two simply deleted, one of which seemed like a scammer. In one case, the member accepted, then said she was no longer interested and deleted her profile. In another case the attractive member accepted the offer and then never wrote to me.)

In addition 2 attractive members cancelled plans after I made all travel/stay arrangements (though that could happen outside of a dating site).

This was all before the premium feature was introduced.

In any case, I can propose that all payments be made on-line through paypal, whereby the generous member gives the attractive member a code like ” 8asdj” (or two codes for begin/end) which can input into your system after the date. That way you can ensure that credits are not used unnecessarily and ensure dates actually take place. That may be good for users.

I know this message is meant for Brandon but I just read that paypal banned whatsyourprice so I don’t think paypal is an option but perhaps a different payment processor would work. Then again they must use some sort of system currently so they can maybe tweak this to work differently. I do look forward to new updates on a better and fair system being implemented.

PayPal can be interesting, as can Facebook for similar and different reasons. The similar one being that that can close and block you for anything any time they feel like it. Since payment agreements are between members of whatsyourprice.com, there is really no basis for any payment method to be blocked.

@Richard, there are testimonials and they are called Behind the Date. I think I understand what you are looking for may be some kind of rating system? Personally I have used the site and been on a couple of dates, so I understand many of the challenges and excitement in using it.